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🍦 Rowing, Rob Schneider, and a Hamilton Movie Night
Best Things To Do in SRQ
Carson B
May 12, 2026
Happy Tuesday!
Rob Schneider takes the McCurdy's stage for three straight nights, the Big 12 women's rowing championship pulls into Nathan Benderson Park, and The Bay turns into a giant outdoor screen for a Hamilton movie night. That is just the top of the list — there is plenty more between Thursday and Sunday, and Memorial Day weekend is teed up right after, so a quick look ahead is down in the Spotlight too.
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In today’s edition of the Sarasota Scoop:
Thanks for reading,
Carson
🧠 Think You Know Sarasota? Trivia!
What religious community founded the Pinecraft neighborhood as a winter retreat? |
📰 Local Headline Roundup
Longboat's First Turtle Crawl Drew a Crowd
Longboat Key's debut foodie-crawl fundraiser timed with the start of nesting season pulled a strong turnout and raised real money for sea turtle research. File this neatly under "new tradition" — first-year events that immediately feel like they will be back.
SiestaCon Brought the Pop Culture Energy
The local comic con returned for another weekend of cosplay, panels, and small-press creators. Smaller than the megacons up in Tampa, and the locals-friendly vibe is exactly the point.
Sarasota Art Museum Pulls Back the Curtain on Local Collections
A new exhibit at SAM features works pulled from private Sarasota collections — pieces that normally live in someone's living room or hallway, now hanging on a museum wall. A rare chance to see what discerning local art buyers have been quietly building.
How did we do this week?Tell us what can improve, what you'd like to see more of, or if it's just right |
🔦 Spotlight: Memorial Day Weekend in Sarasota
Memorial Day weekend is the one stretch on the Sarasota calendar that quietly runs end to end — Saturday on foot across the Ringling Bridge, Sunday rafted up at the New Pass sandbar, Monday morning lining Main Street for the parade. None of it is new, and that is the point. This is the rare slate where everyone shows up to the same things their neighbors are doing.
Here is how the weekend stacks up if you want to plan it out.
Saturday: SRQ VETS 5K Memorial Hike
The 11th annual hike steps off at 9:15 a.m. from J.D. Hamel Park, crosses the Ringling Bridge, and loops back. Check-in opens at 8 a.m., opening ceremony at 9. It is more community walk than race — you will see strollers, dogs, veterans in unit shirts, and a cookout with live music waiting at the finish. Proceeds go to SRQ VETS' work supporting local veterans.
Sunday: AquaPalooza at New Pass
MarineMax's annual on-the-water party returns to the New Pass sandbar Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Boats raft up, anchors drop, and the music plays from a floating stage — Jah Movement, Dr. Dave Band, and Zach Regan and the 776 on the 2026 lineup. If you have a boat, you already know. If you do not, plenty of people do.
Monday: The Memorial Day Parade and Hamel Park Ceremony
The parade steps off at 10 a.m. Monday at Main Street and Orange Avenue and runs down to J.D. Hamel Park at Main and Gulfstream. Expect the Sarasota Military Academy band, color guards, veterans' organizations, scouts, and the kind of crowd that only Sarasota's downtown can hold without feeling jammed. A ceremony at the park follows around 11 a.m., with Army veteran Charlie Halley as this year's guest speaker. The 2026 theme is "All Gave Some … Some Gave All."
The whole thing is free, walkable, and stroller-friendly. Park around Five Points if you can, get there a few minutes early for the parade, and stay for the ceremony if you have the time — it is the part most people skip and the part that actually matters.
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Thursday, May 14
2026 Arts Summit: Advancing Sarasota's Creative Future
📍 FSU Center for the Performing Arts
🕦 1:00 PM — 4:00 PM
🔗 Sarasota Arts
Bri Tyler and Friends
📍 Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center
🕦 7:00 PM (doors 6:00 PM)
🔗 Fogartyville
Paul Farahvar Live
📍 McCurdy's Comedy Theatre
🕦 7:00 PM
🔗 McCurdy's
Fleetwood Mach: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac
📍 Sarasota Opera House
🕦 7:00 PM
🔗 Sarasota Opera
Cinema at The Bay: Hamilton
📍 The Bay
🕦 7:30 PM — 10:15 PM
🔗 The Bay Sarasota
Friday, May 15
2026 Big 12 Women's Rowing Championship
📍 Nathan Benderson Park
🕦 8:00 AM — 5:00 PM (through May 17)
🔗 Nathan Benderson Park
An Evening of Art
📍 Number 33 Gallery, Sarasota
🕦 5:00 PM — 8:00 PM
🔗 Sarasota Arts
Live Music at The Plaza
📍 Waterside Place, Lakewood Ranch
🕦 6:00 PM — 9:00 PM
🔗 Lakewood Ranch
Rob Schneider Live
📍 McCurdy's Comedy Theatre
🕦 6:30 PM and 8:50 PM
🔗 McCurdy's
Gravel Road at Mattison's City Grille
📍 Mattison's City Grille, Downtown Sarasota
🕦 8:00 PM — 11:30 PM
🔗 Mattison's
Bradenton Marauders vs. Fort Myers Mighty Mussels
📍 LECOM Park, Bradenton
🕦 First pitch 6:30 PM
🔗 Bradenton Marauders
Saturday, May 16
Alexander Calder: The Nature of Movement
📍 Selby Gardens, Downtown Sarasota Campus
🕦 10:00 AM — 5:00 PM (closing May 31)
🔗 Selby Gardens
Sarasota Orchestra Discoveries 3: Unfinished Business
📍 Sarasota Opera House
🕦 7:30 PM
🔗 Sarasota Orchestra
Opera at The Bay Finale: Il Trovatore
📍 The Oval at The Bay
🕦 7:30 PM
🔗 The Bay Sarasota
A Meadow's Tale
📍 Riverview High School Performing Arts Center
🕦 5:00 PM
🔗 Sarasota Arts
Sarasota Contemporary Dance + WBTT
📍 Sarasota Contemporary Dance Studio
🕦 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM
🔗 Sarasota Arts
Birthday Candles
📍 Florida Studio Theatre, Gompertz Theatre
🕦 8:00 PM — 9:30 PM
🔗 Florida Studio Theatre
Donnie Bostic Band at Mattison's City Grille
📍 Mattison's City Grille, Bradenton Riverwalk
🕦 6:00 PM — 10:00 PM
🔗 Mattison's
Sarasota Paradise vs. South Georgia Tormenta SC
📍 Premier Sports Campus, Lakewood Ranch
🕦 7:30 PM — 10:00 PM
🔗 Lakewood Ranch
Sunday, May 17
Birthday Candles (Closing Performance)
📍 Florida Studio Theatre, Gompertz Theatre
🕦 2:00 PM — 3:30 PM
🔗 Florida Studio Theatre
Sarasota Music Conservatory Rising Stars Gala
📍 Holley Hall at the Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center
🕦 5:00 PM — 7:00 PM
🔗 Sarasota Arts
Hot Tonic Plays Bacharach
📍 Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center
🕦 7:00 PM (doors 6:00 PM)
🔗 Fogartyville
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